A university student with a sinister interest in violent organisations and explosives has failed to win a cut in his jail term for stockpiling an arsenal of illegal weapons.

In refusing to cut the five-year term imposed on Carl Barnsley, London's Criminal Appeal Court said the sentencing judge was entitled to reject a claim that the microbiology student was no more than a fantasist.

"In our judgement, this sentence cannot be described as manifestly excessive," said Mr Justice Gibbs.

"The increasing availability of guns and ammunition and their use is a matter of increasing and justified public concern."

Barnsley, 24, of previous good character and from a respectable family in Fareham Grove, Boldon Colliery, South Tyneside, was jailed at Newcastle Crown Court in April after pleading guilty to a string of firearms offences.

They included possessing prohibited weapons and ammunition and manufacturing a banned firearm.

The deadly hoard included two stun guns, tear gas pellets and an airgun adapted to fire live rounds.

His computer contained documents called The Terrorist's Handbook and The Hitman's Manual, and he was found to have surfed the Internet for al Qaida information. Other items included an Arabic phrase book and articles on how to makes explosives.